Has it really been a month since last month? It was, at least, a busy one for the Subway team as a bunch of our writers met up (many for the first time) at Montreal’s hottest festival: ProgStorm. If you saw a bunch of people in pink t-shirts emblazoned with the snarky slogan ‘your favourite album is a 6/10’, thank you for not punching any of them in the face! Outside of live music, August was a strong month for new releases too. Our selection this month includes an experimental prog rock act who used to only get write-ups from little blogs like ours but are now gracing the pages of The Guardian, a triumphant return from the luminaries of progressive sludge, Opethian shenanigans from Finland, loud and proud power metal, progressive death metal picks both old school and new school, and, of course, experimental baile funk with bird calls! Start spinning some albums!

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Papangu – Celestial
Recommended for fans of: Magma, King Crimson, Rush, Gentle Giant, Dimmu Borgir
Picked by: Noor

After two experimental and successful albums that dive into Brazilian folklore through metal and zeuhl, Papangu return with a bright new sound in Celestial. The heavy sludge and black elements that founded Holoceno and Lampião Rei are traded in for a radiant soundscape full of vintage synths, textural percussion, and sparing but precise vocal performances. Celestial sees a blend of prog rock and jazz fusion that allow vibrant melodies to frolic back and forth between moments of oddly-timed grooves and jazzy cymbal shuffles. Auxiliary instrumentation shines on the record, with instruments like shakers, forró inspired hand percussion, and flute/mouth whistling adding tons of new layers and textures to explore across Celestial, making it an album worth revisiting time and time again. Both cleans and harsh vocals are sparingly mixed in as another instrumental line, blending the many individual parts together into one grand musical scene. Celestial encompasses a new journey for Papangu, but don’t think for a moment that their musical skill has plateaued–in fact, it’s done quite the opposite.

Recommended tracks: Colosso, Taxidermia, Bode Expiatório, Fechamento de Corpo, Afirmação
Related links: Bandcamp | original review

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Coma Control – Shed the Sleep
Recommended for fans of: Between the Buried and Me, Dream Theater, Opeth 
Picked by: Clay

Solo artist Tapio Honka has emerged from his Between the Buried and Me worship of debut album Perennial and composed an excellent and diverse progressive metal album in Shed the Sleep. Honka’s intricate guitar passages are lined with melodious hooks and grooves while the seamlessly integrated gentle sections drip with melancholic harmony. The instrumental “Post-Aware” is driven by energetic and engaging noodly-riffs with Petrucci-like melodic ear worms which add a captivating flair. “Inherently Unmet” and “Immersed in Whispers” are sweeping progressive metal tracks that run through the gamut of Honkas’ diverse sonic palette with seamlessly connected valleys of acoustic harmony and blazing peaks of progressive death metal technicality. Shed the Sleep is much more than simply a showcase for Honka’s guitar prowess, as his commanding drumming performance is a driving force behind Coma Control’s dynamic sonic makeup, while his gentle clean vocals and Åkerfeldtian growls blend in perfectly with the backing instrumentation. Like many great progressive metal albums, in Shed the Sleep there are countless captivating moments and details that will have you returning for repeated listens. If you’re a sucker for melodic riffs and grooves all tied together in an expansive progressive metal package like me, don’t miss Shed the Sleep.

Recommended tracks: Seething Hunger, Inherently Unmet, Post-Aware 
Related links: Bandcamp | original review

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Gorod – The Ember Gone
Recommended for fans of: Obscura, Alkaloid, Opeth, Gojira, Mastodon, The Ocean
Picked by: Attila

Gorod always set themselves apart within the tech death scene with proggy antics. The Ember Gone sees the band double down on their prog influences, leaving tech death excess mostly behind. But make no mistake, The Ember Gone is still a heavy record. This time though, heaviness emanates more from theme and tone than performative brutality. Mighty grooves and Opethian riffing replace breakneck speed pummeling, ornamented by cathartic solos focusing on expert phrasing instead of mindless shredding, while emotive harsh vocals paint with an entire spectrum of moods beyond ‘something stuck in my garbage disposal.’ Instead of chasing extremes, the band traverse a more diverse soundscape than ever before. “Forgiveness” introduces post-metal build-ups, “Regret” submerges the listener in sludgy murkiness, and instrumental “Crimson” showcases Gorod’s trademark playfulness in full display. Fans more enamored with the ferocity of previous records might find The Ember Gone lacking; however, those approaching it with an open mind will be rewarded with depth and variety, and an exemplary prog death record with strong replay potential.

Recommended tracks: Forgiveness, Regret, Remains
Related links: Apple Music | original review coming soon

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Shabti – Haze, White Light, and Cacophony
Recommended for fans of: Death, Blood Incantation, Cynic, Atheist
Picked by: Andy

Formed from black metal pedigree (Falls of Rauros, Panopticon (live), Obsidian Tongue), Maine’s Shabti would have you believe they’d played nothing but progressive death metal in their entire lives. Haze, Cacophony, and White Light navigates the genre’s diverse history with ease, incorporating elements from the very beginning, like the distinctly Atheist-informed jazzy flourishes, all the way up to the present day, with the record’s crystalline, Horrendous-y production. The dense songs cram in an endless stream of riffs but leave plenty of space for natural development. Several of the songs excel at frantic tech death stylings, but the album is dynamic and varied, exemplified by song-of-the-year contender, “A Weary Creation,” as thicc bass meets bluesy, doomy guitar leads, building in melodic intensity for a delightfully short seven minutes before a fantastic blackened conclusion. It’s one of the most satisfying payoffs I’ve heard in music this year; and that’s just a microcosm of what makes Shabti’s music so tasty. On Haze, Cacophony, and White Light, Shabti simply execute 90s-style prog/tech death excellently.

Recommended tracks: A Weary Creation, Blood for a Blessing, Rise of the Shabti
Related links: Bandcamp | original review

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DJ Urutau – Ornitofagia
Recommended for fans of: Irmãs de Pau, DJ Lukinhas, DJ Carlozs, d.silverstre, Bia Soull, Papangu, Antropoceno
Picked by: Andy

I had the pleasure of reviewing both of Lua Viana’s Anthropoceno albums for the blog, but I unfortunately was too busy to cover the release of her new project DJ Urutau’s debut album, Ornitofagia. Thankfully everything worked out; my peer Noor reviewed it and did a better job than I could have because she is obsessed with birds. Which is relevant as DJ Urutau’s conceit is mixing abrasive deconstructed club music and baile funk with birdsong samples. Ornitofagia is Viana showing a brand of virtuosity I don’t think I’ve heard in the prog world before: that of a DJ masterfully transitioning between tracks in a set. Viana meticulously curates bird song, synth, percussion, and vocals to fluidly fade in and out of each other—the attention to detail reminds of The Avalanches and their mastery of plunderphonics. Ornitofagia’s two styles of music belong to two different sonic worlds—two different species, even—and in theory shouldn’t work well at all, but under Viana’s masterful hand, the blending is electric. Ornitofagia is only a twenty-eight minute “set,” but it’s full of such electric energy and forward-thinking experimentation that it’s just easy to bump in the car with the volume up. I didn’t know bird songs could be so hype.

Recommended tracks: Conversión, Baile das Calopsitas, Olhos Mágicos, Sabiá-Feiticeira, Engoli um Bem-te-vi (Na Onda do El Niño)
Related links: Bandcamp | original review

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Mastodon – Marrow Deep
Recommended for fans of: Baroness, Opeth, The Ocean, Elder
Picked by: Cory

By this point, everyone knows about the turmoil and grief leading up to this album, so I’ll get right into the work. Marrow Deep deftly strikes the delicate balance of vintage Mastodon and the opening of a fresh chapter—of emotional tribute and straight-up ripping. From the pummeling opener to the proggy, keyboard-laden closing track, the band journey through sixty-five dynamic minutes, offering some of their best cuts to date. Ask any group of fans what their album highlights are, and you’re sure to get a host of different answers; the spread of quality is insane. Heavier tracks like “Barbarians Blood,” Golden Spires,” and “A Vampire’s Demeanor” draw faithfully upon the band’s roots, while “In the Ruins” and “Moth and Bone” carry a tangible emotional catharsis. “The Vanishing” turns up the psychedelic dial and holds a lovely retro feel, while “The Three Fates” sees the group near their progressive peak. And guess what? All the other tracks stack up as well. By any measure, Marrow Deep is an absolute success for one of the most monstrous bands in metal. The circumstances underlying its creation only make it all the more triumphant.

Recommended tracks: Barbarians Blood, Golden Spires, The Three Fates
Related links: Bandcamp | original review

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Triosphere – Oceans Above, Stars Below
Recommended for fans of: Queensryche, Iron Maiden, Brainstorm, Unleash the Archers
Picked by: Vince

For me, finding good power metal that clicks with me is like finding a bag of chips at the store that isn’t eight dollars: challenge level, impossible. Too cheesy and my lactose intolerance kicks in; not cheesy enough and we’re lacking flavor. Are the vocals good? Are the lyrics and music immersive, and not meme-y? These are just some of the questions that come into play. And somehow, Norway’s Triosphere answered all of them correctly with Oceans Above, Stars Below. The band have an undeniable swagger and heart that feels at once connected to the halcyon acts of the 80s, without ever devolving into pastiche or nostalgia-bait. Ballads like “Shorelines” and “Encore” soar on tender-hearted wings, while cuts such as “Of Tyrants”, “Oceans Above, Stars Below”, and “Through the Phantom Wall” get under your guard with muscular, commanding riffs and a full-steam ahead approach that practically demands necks will snap. Tying everything together is vocalist Ida Haukland, whose deep, resonant voice commands attention from minute one, fusing battle-plated grit with gossamer heart while delivering some of the most infectious choruses I’ve heard all year. Like Sunburst two years prior, Triosphere have emerged from seemingly nowhere to deliver an absolute banger of a PM record, and one of my favorite listens of 2026.

Recommended tracks: Of Tyrants; Oceans Above, Stars Below; Shorelines
Related links: Apple Music | original review coming soon

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Non-Subway Picks

Xandria – Eclipse (symphonic metal, power metal, folk metal)
The Wonders Still Waiting (2023) was a proper return for a band largely lost in the shadow of juggernauts like Nightwish and Epica, and follow-up Eclipse feels like a declaration of Xandria’s staying power. Bombastic and tender, with breakdowns and bestial vocals to boot, Eclipse feels grand yet grounded, a symphonic metal record that refuses to get lost in its own shadow. Refreshing for a genre often given to excess, and hopefully a promising sign of Xandria’s future.
Picked by: Vince

Floating Points & The San Francisco Ballet Orchestra – Mere Mortals (modern classical, ballet, experimental electronic music)
British electronic artist Floating Points put himself on the map as a classical composer with 2021’s Promises, but it is with his new ballet Mere Mortals that he has cemented himself as a leading voice at the interface between electronic music and modern classical. The composition is brilliant, accessible enough to traditional fans of classical music while fully pushing the boundary. 
Picked by: Andy

Djrum – I Wander (IDM)
Last year, Djrum released Under Tangled Silence, an intricate, hourlong IDM odyssey. I Wander takes the same sonic palette as Djrum’s last album—excellent sound design, frenetic percussion, strange synths, and honest-to-god acoustic instruments—but condenses the entire sixty minutes of content into sixteen. Incredibly dense, I Wander doesn’t waste a single second in building toward its goal, the single suite constantly mutating as it grows in intensity until its plaintive resolution. Sometimes concision is king.  
Picked by: Andy